100 Women Who Care Toronto West

Building a branded digital experience for 100+ members in order to drive fundraising efforts through the pandemic & beyond
Brand & website Design
Introduction
brand
website
social
reflection
context
Freelance
2020-2022
role
Digital Designer
Brand Consultant
Deliverables
Brand Standards
Website
Social Template
tools
Figma
Illustrator
Squarespace

"Alison has given us a product to proudly send into the world that represents us and has increased visibility measurably. She is also just fun to collaborate with!"

100 Women Who Care - Toronto West is a membership based community of women who come together four times a year to raise money for charities that are working to incite positive, local impact. This chapter was established in 2019 and has raised over $150,000 for local charities.

When the pandemic hit, everything went online

Prior to lockdown, 100 Women Who Care Toronto West primarily engaged their membership in person. The client needed help to boost their digital presence and keep their membership engaged in the digital space.

It was worth the effort. Through a collaborative process of branding, website and content design, the client was rewarded with:

+ 26% unique website visitors

Measured year over year

+ 65% instagram reach

Measured event over event

+ 129% instagram profile visits

Measured event over event

Stakeholders

A review of recent literature pertaining to youth climate action engagement in so-called Canada was performed. The following are key takeaways from existing studies to inform the problem space.

Leadership

This organisation is led by six women who volunteer their time, energy, and expertise in order to make this possible. They’re busy, hardworking women with limited time resources who need simple, effective solutions to streamline this philanthropic work.

Membership

The membership size varies between 100-200 women who live in Toronto West and donate $100 to the group four times a year. Members love being part of this group because it enables them to support their community in a fun, easy, and powerful way.

Brand

Creating a Resonant Identity

The leadership knew the organisation’s values, intuitively, but hadn’t yet put it down into words. With an aligned value system, we brought the brand to life with a visual identity.

The goal was to create a brand that would reflect the organisation’s values in a way that current and prospective members could identify with and that could be scaled across digital touchpoints.

Brand Pillars

The 100 Who Care Alliance has established a clear vision and mission, which forms the foundation for all local chapters. Together, we developed a complementary value system in order to inform the Toronto West chapter’s unique brand identity.

Vision

To foster immediate, direct, and positive impact on the lives of our neighbours

Mission

To bring 100+ women together to raise $10k+ for local charities four times a year

Values

Generosity
Giving to our community

Impact
Measurably creating positive, local influence

Gratitude
For support from our members & partners

Transparency
In systems, processes, and financials

Welcoming
To all women and charities in Toronto West

Empowering
Members to make a difference in our community

A Welcoming Typeface

In the spirit of keeping things simple for the leadership team, I opted for a single typeface with font specifications to delineate the type hierarchy. I chose Sofia Pro because of its character alignment with the brand values. This typeface is a bold, impactful sans serif with a friendly, welcoming tone.

Digital-Friendly Palette

The client had an affinity for cyan, so I developed a colour scheme comprised of a near-triadic combination of a friendly cyan, passionate rose, and classy gold. I produced a single tint and shade to complement each base colour in order to create accessible contrast options for digital applications.

Accessible Contrast

With the suite of brand colours ready to go, I wanted to make sure the client was equipped with the tools they need to ensure content accessibility by using appropriate colour contrast for brand touchpoints like their newsletter and presentation decks.In the client’s brand standards guide, I included recommended text formatting that adheres to WCAG 2.0 standards using the brand’s font hierarchy and colours.

Logomark and Icons

With the suite of brand colours ready to go, I wanted to make sure the client was equipped with the tools they need to ensure content accessibility by using appropriate colour contrast for brand touchpoints like their newsletter and presentation decks.In the client’s brand standards guide, I included recommended text formatting that adheres to WCAG 2.0 standards using the brand’s font hierarchy and colours.

Member-Foreward Imagery

Informed by the brand values, the imagery is friendly, inclusive, and empowering. I recommend using images featuring members engaging with each other, including their faces in order to make the group relatable to current and prospective members. Natural light is encouraged to inspire trust and transparency. For evening occasions, I recommend elevating the event atmosphere by leaning into warm light and refreshments, evoking a cordial, urbane mood.

Website

The client needed a new website as a primary point place for their audience to understand their work and access tools needed to participate. The goal was to create a digital hub to meet the needs of current members, entice prospective members, and assert the organisation’s credibility.

The new site is a hit. A year after going live, we can see the measurable increase in engagement with the website as compared to the organisation’s previous “undesigned” & unbranded site.

+ 21% website visits*

+ 26% unique visitors*

*Measured year over year

User Stories

In order to determine the content and functional requirements of the website, we audited existing 100 Women processes and brainstormed the needs of the two primary audience groups: current members and prospective members. The most prominent needs are captured in the following user stories:

As a prospective member...

I want to see the impact record in order to decide if it’s worth becoming a donor

I want to hear member experiences in order to know what it’s like to be involved

I want to contact the leadership team in order to ask a few questions before I join

I want to sign up for a membership in order to become part of the group

As a current member...

I want to see event details in order to make sure I can attend upcoming occasions

I want to nominate a charity in order to bring awareness to my top local causes

I want to donate my share in order to become eligible to vote at the next event

I want to learn how to present in order to best represent the charity I nominated

Site Map

Informed by the user stories, I drafted a site map that prioritizes the task-based needs of the audience. I introduced a “member lounge” to house the mandatory fine print and member-specific pages in order to keep the nav bar clean and guide current members to information that pertains exclusively to them. Social media and e-mail icons live in the nav bar to encourage cross-channel conversion and enable communication with the leadership team.

Wireframe Sketches

Informed by the site map, I sketched lo-fi wireframes inclusive of the content blocks required to meet the user needs. Knowing that we would be adopting a template for the site build, these sketches are non-specific in terms of UI elements and acted as a tool for ideation and verification of the site’s content requirements.

UI Injection

I chose Squarespace as a host for ease of site maintenance for the client. Due to the templated nature of the platform, I bypassed hi-fi wireframes and went straight to injecting the brand ID into an appropriate template.I prioritized accessibility when injecting the brand colours and fonts in order to meet WCAG AA standards, at minimum.

Social

The client was concerned about low engagement with their social media, especially because those channels were used to communicate important updates about events and members’ calls to action. The goal was to devise a content strategy for the social team in order to increase engagement and ensure that messaging to members was clear.

The new strategy is capturing attention. We trialled the new social content strategy for the client’s October 2022 event and the increase in reach and profile visits as compared to the previous event is mega.

+ 65% reach*

+ 129% profile visits*

*Measured campaign/campaign

Content Assessment

I started by taking stock of the essential calls to action that the membership needs to see in order to participate in the events as well as important additional information members would benefit from understanding and build hype around the events.

Calls to Action

Save the Dates
‍Provide key dates for member participation

Nominate
Ask members to nominate eligible charities

Donate
Remind members to donate in order to participate

Vote
Prompt members to cast their ballots

Meet
Remind members of the event date and time

Event Info

Event Theme
Announce theme for the next event

Presenting Charities
Introduce the charities on the ballot

Donation Total
Share the donation totals

Event Photos
Express gratitude with photos from the evening

Content Inventory

Based on the content framework, I performed an inventory check on the social campaigns for the five previous events.

The audit shows that, on average, 28% of the calls to action and 35% of the event info & hype messaging hadn’t been shared with members.

Asset Template

In order to ensure that the content framework is fulfilled, I created a template comprised of the essential calls to action and event info pertaining to members. The template is designed to have background images added (see teal zone, right) with text adjustments for the meeting name and key dates.

With onboarding training, the client is now equipped with the tools they need to fulfil content requirements for future campaigns.

Application

We used the new asset template for the October 2022 event campaign and were rewarded with successful reach metrics as well as positive feedback from members at the event.

The new approach to social assets adheres to brand standards, is more easily scannable, and provides clear calls to action for the membership.

Reflection

Key Learning

The greatest takeaway from this work is the importance of honoring that, when it comes to client work, you’re designing for 2 groups: the client and their audience. Making your design usable for the client ensures a clean, happy handoff and effective implementation of the design beyond the project wrap.

Next Steps

Now that 100 Women Who Care Toronto West has the direction and tools they need to create effective event campaigns, we’re looking at opportunities to engage their membership between events.

© Alison Cowling 2023
I acknowledge that I currently occupy and design on the unceded, traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations